Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Ghosts of Christmas Past, Part 1: Overcoming Offenses

Episode Date: December 4, 2016

For many, the most wonderful time of the year isn't so wonderful. A painful past or our own insecurities can overshadow the joy we're supposed to be feeling. What if this year could look different? It’s time to let God heal the Ghosts of Christmas... Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Thanks for joining us here at Life Church, where we are one church meeting in multiple locations and reaching around the world with the help of Church online. If you ever have any questions or you'd like to learn more about us as a church, you can always check us out online simply by going to Life.Church. Or we'd love for you to stay connected throughout your week and everywhere you go with the all-new Life Church app available today wherever you download your apps from. You know, it's Christmas season, a time when everything seems to be highlighted. The blessings in our life get better, but also the tough.

things in our life can seem to get harder and overshadow all the joys that are meant to be experienced this season. Well, today our senior pastor Craig Rochelle begins an all new message series to help us heal from the brokenness of our past. And we started off with part one of the Ghost of Christmas Past. Hey, a big welcome today to all of our life churches, all of our open network churches. This is a very special week and I've got amazing news to share with you. This weekend, we're launching the 26th Life Church location. This one happens to be in the eighth state, a brand new state.

Could I get 25 life churches to join me in welcoming the newest family member from Fort Smith, Arkansas. We celebrate with you. We believe great things are coming to Fort Smith. Pastor Johnny, we love you, and we embrace all that God is going to do

at this amazing location. You're joining us at a very good time. We're in part one of a message series called The Ghost of Christmas Past. Have you noticed that Christmas is a time that really tends to magnify things? If there's something good, Christmas season tends to magnify the good and makes the things even better. At the same time, Christmas can also magnify the difficult times, and what might be a little painful during the year seems to be incredibly painful during Christmas time. In fact, I want to tell you what we're going to cover in the next few weeks.

Next week, we're going to talk about something that most of us battle with at one degree or another. We're going to talk about healing from shame. Many of us, we internalize shame from something that we did, and we think, because I did bad, I am bad. And we're going to look at God's word as it speaks directly to our hearts to heal from shame. Week number three is my favorite of the message series. We're going to talk about overcoming labels because, let's be honest, all of us through life, we pick up different labels. Someone causes something, we think something about ourselves, and these labels tend to limit us with God's help. We're going to overcome those labels.

Today what I want to do is talk about something very dear to my heart. It's something that God has done a real work in my heart. I want to talk to you about overcoming offenses, overcoming offenses. And all of our churches, how many of you know someone that's easily offended? Would you raise your hand right now? you know someone who's easily offended. If they knew you were raising your hand, they would be so hurt. They would be so offended. How many of you would say, quite honestly, you might be offended more often than he should? It's difficult to admit.

But this was me for years and years. I recognized that I was letting little things weigh me down. And maybe you're like something insignificant. For example, if I'm driving in a car and I let someone in when it really wasn't their turn, and if they didn't give me the courtesy obligatory thank you wave, or just a simple nod, like, you know, like, I acknowledge that you're a very righteous and godly person for letting me in when I could have been waiting there for a long time.

I get so irritated. Like, I want to, like, you know, just kind of, you know, remind them to say thank you. The same is true if, you know, like if I open someone's door for them and they just kind of walk right on. And like, no even, like, you know, thank you. Like, oh, I'm just sitting here. all day long, this is my job.

And I can let little things like that get to me. Maybe this is for you, you're talking to somebody, and the whole time you're trying to have a conversation, they're just on their phone. Just look and look and look and you're like, would you put the thing down? Look me right here. And some of you that might get to you.

Speaking of the phone, it's really easy now with technology to find new and creative ways to become offended. For example, your friend doesn't follow you on Instagram and you like all of their posts. It's like, I'm not even worthy of being followed, Or they do follow you and they don't comment. Or even worse, they follow you and then one day they don't.

Oh, I'm unliking all of my likes on your page because you unfollowed me. Or you text them and they slow respond. They wait a day and like, oh, so I'm a 24-hour responder. Or the worst is when you text them and they start to respond and you see bubbles. They're bubbles there. You see the bubbles. They're bubbles. And then there's no text.

I saw the bubbles. I saw the bubbles. You started and you dumped me. Why did you dump me in the middle of the text? I thought we were a quick. And I could get really offended by this. I don't know if you're like this. Maybe I just need counseling, but I can get really, really offended.

And then the holidays come, and you know how it is. The same person who's always late doesn't bring anything to eat. They don't bring any food, but what do they bring? Tupperware. Why? Because even though you didn't bring any, you think you're taking it all home. Who do you think you are? Maybe that person isn't in your family.

They're all in mine. I don't know. It's so easy in the holidays. Someone tells you, I don't like the way you're raising your kids. You make one comment about the kids. It's game on. I don't care if it is Christmas, maybe. You just crossed a line.

And it's so interesting how, especially around the holidays, the littlest things can often set us off in the biggest ways. And a time that is supposed to be Christ honoring often becomes very destructive in the relationships of the people that we love. Most. I talked about the little things, and those are kind of little and annoying things. The reality is, for many of us, there will be significant hurts and wounds that emerge this time of the year. Some of you, you've been betrayed in a significant way. Someone perhaps lied about you or let you down, or represented one thing and then lived in a totally different way. Some of you have been abused. Some of you are going into family situations that have been very, very dysfunctional.

and hurtful for years and years and years and years. The challenge is, so often, when we are offended, when we let the offenses seep into our hearts and overcome our attitudes, all of the sudden, we've got many of us, we'll have entire Christmas dinners that are completely destroyed. There are those of you that will have families that are divided.

There are many who have friendships end. I pray with all of my heart that you don't go into the time that is to honor the birth, of our Savior, Jesus, and open gifts with a closed heart to someone that you're called to love. I hope that you don't celebrate the love of Christ while hating somebody that's very close to you. I pray that we never, ever enjoy the grace of God without extending the grace of God to other people around this. That's why in this Christmas season, I want to talk to you about overcoming, offenses. And one of the reasons I'm so excited to do this is because I believe God has done a real

work in my heart to help lead me to become more like Christ and to overcome the tendency to be quickly and easily offended. And what I'm going to do is tell you a statement that I say to myself over and over again, over and over again. And if there's one thing that you take away from this message, I hope it will be this statement or a version of it that really fits you. And this is a what I tell myself, and maybe you can tell yourself this or something close. I tell myself this, Craig, your life is too short and you're calling too great to live offended. Your life is too short and you're calling too big to be offended. Think about it. What is life? Life is a mist. We're here for a little while and gone tomorrow. Life passes by so far. Life passes by so

It breaks my heart to see my kids are just like growing and just leave in the home. Boom, one, boom, boom, another one. How'd that happen? They were just babies yesterday. It's so, so, so, so, so, so, so fast. My calling is great. And guess what? So is yours.

Every single one of you. Guess what we are. We are called by God to go into this world to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are called to be the light of this world. We're called to be the salt of this earth. We reflect the love. of Jesus when we come into contact with people. We are the hands and feet of Jesus. We show his love on this earth. I don't know about you, but life is too short for me, and my calling is too great

to be offended by something small. Small people carry big offenses. I refuse to be a small person. We're going to learn to let it go, let it go, let it go, let it go, let it go. Why? Life is too short. Our calling is too great. My life is too short. My calling is too great. My calling is too great. All of our churches say it, my life is too short. My life is too short. My calling is too great. My life is too great. To live offended, I'm not going to let small things drag me down. My life is too short. My calling is too great to live offended. And what I want to do today is unpack one verse to set the tone. Then we're going to look at some other words. This is from Proverbs 19 verse 11, and I love this one particular phrase in Proverbs 19. This is what

scripture says. A person's wisdom yields patience. It is to one's glory to do what? All of our church is somebody in Fort Smith helped me out. It's to one's glory to what? To overlook an offense. Let's say it again. It's to one's glory to do what? To overlook an offense. Now, what does it mean to overlook an offense? Now, what does it mean to overlook? overlook an offense. We need to recognize that overlooking and offense is not the same as pretending it didn't happen. It's not saying this never happened. It's overlooking the fact that it already did. It's a conscious decision to let it go. In other words, it's a form of forgiveness. It's almost like a in the moment decision to forgive. It's a choice. It's a real-time decision that I'm going to rise

above this and I'm going to choose in the moment not to let this get into my heart. In fact, the word overlooked that's in the English language, this actually comes from two Hebrew words that are translated to overlook. And these words literally mean to pass over. It's to one's glory to pass on over an offense, to get above it in your heart, to rise above it spiritually. to get closer to God, so close to God, that you're not going to be low enough to let a meaningless offense take you off of God's calling. It's a person's glory to rise above, to overlook, to pass over an offense. In fact, I love this quote from Renee Descartes who said this. Whenever anyone has offended me, I try to raise my soul so high that the

the offense cannot reach it. Whenever anyone has offended me, I try to raise my soul so high that the offense cannot reach it. Why? Because life is too short. And our calling is too great to let something small distract us from something so big. Life is too short, our calling is too great to live offending. So what I want to do is unpack two thoughts, and we're going to talk about the smaller offenses first, and then we're going to deal with the heavier offenses, because let's be honest, there are many of us that have deeper wounds

that follow us around for years or even generations. So the statement in your notes, if you're looking at your notes, is this. With God's help, I'm getting over this. Everybody say that. With God's help, I'm getting over this. It's to your glory to overlook an offense. With God's help, I'm getting over this. The first thought, if you're taking notice, is this.

With God's help, I'm getting over being easily offended. With God's help, I'm getting over being easily offended. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 2, says this. Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each. other making allowance for each other's faults because of your love. Paul told us this, be patient with other people, making allowance for each other's fault. What a great verse. How many of you know somebody who's perfect? I don't. Make allowances for their fault because of your love.

What's interesting is how often we tend to judge others by their actions, but what do we often do do with ourselves. We often judge ourselves by our intentions. In other words, you did it. Well, I didn't mean to do that. I mean, you know my heart, right? I mean, I wasn't thinking that. I mean, and you really know my heart, so you should give me the benefit of the doubt. And yet we're so quick to point one finger at someone else's actions, we really have three fingers pointing back at us. We judge them by their actions and ourselves by our intentions. For example, years ago, I preached a message on lying, and it was a message I was actually really proud of it. of. I felt like I got to the root of why we lie and dishonor God in this way. And I had just finished

preaching a full weekend. And Amy called and said, get home fast. The company's here early. And I need to pick up these two things at the store. Get here fast. It's like panic time. And so I'm fighting the traffic, getting out of the parking lot because all you are there that weekend's, you know, and I can't quite get out. And so I'm trying to get in the grocery store. And when I went in, the grocery store is down the street in between a couple of life churches. Like, there's going to be a lot of people in there. It's after church. They're going to want to talk.

And so Amy's in panic mode. So I just decided to put my phone up to my head, even though I wasn't on the phone, and fake it like I'm having a conversation. And so I'm talking like this. People are like, hey, sorry. All this kind of stuff. I'm just faking it right there in the middle after doing a message on lying. Lying! Lying! Lyer, liar, pants on fire! And it was going okay until somebody said, hey, can I talk to you?

I'm sorry. I'm on the phone. And right then, Amy called me. Pastor Craig just did, you know, preached the message on lying and then lied right in front of everybody. And I want to just beg you, give me the benefit of the doubt. If you'd only known how panic she was, get home fast. I'm just trying to get in and get out and get home. So my wife, would be okay. And it's so easy to say, hey, you get me the benefit of the doubt, but oftentimes I don't want to give anybody else the benefit of doubt. You said, and you did that, oh, ha, ha, that's not right, that's not fair, on and on and on and on. We need to recognize that when someone else has a bad day, when someone else has a bad response, when someone else

might seem uncaring, unkind, unfriendly, short, inattentive, lacking empathy, their bad response is not all about you. It's not. Their bad day is not all about you. Their bad driving is not in an attempt to offend you and ruin your whole day. their snarky remark is not about you. The fact they walk by fast about saying thank you, it's not about you.

Their PMS is not about you. Unless you ask about it, then it's all about you. So don't ever ask. Just a little mere device, for those of you there are newlyweds. Pretend like you don't know what that is. PMS stands for please make sense, but I didn't say that.

Anyway, it's not about you. unless you bring it up. We'll just edit that part right on out and keep on going. Whenever someone is short with me, what I'm learning to do is ask myself, I wonder what they're going through. I wonder where they're hurting. When someone's a little bit rude, instead of judging them, what I want to do is have compassion for them. I wonder if there's some way I can minister to them. I wonder if they need prayer. Instead of immediately taking an offense, what I want to do is have the attitude of Christ. I want to have compassion for someone

because I'm getting over being easily offended. In fact, years ago I read a book by a pastor, and the book really offended me. The pastor said things that seemed like he was taking a shot at the type of church that I have. And so I just decided, I don't like this guy. If I wasn't talking on a weekend, I might say, I hate this guy.

I don't hate anybody, but I might say just kind of like, I don't like this guy at all. And so for years, I didn't like this guy. Years. Never met him. but didn't like him, didn't like him at all. After maybe six or seven years went by, I actually met him recently in an event,

oh my gosh, nicest guy ever met my life. I mean, we're like buddies, like this. I mean, we're like blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, talking. I mean, I haven't met in the last five years, someone that I hit it off more so with this guy. We're just a delightful honoring. And so finally I'm like, we're old friends now. We've talked for 30 minutes.

And I said, yeah, man, that book you wrote years ago. Like, you kind of seemed a little harsh and angry. What's going on? He goes, man, I was in a really bad place in my life right now. And if I had that book to write over again, I would have used a totally different tone. I wanted to say, well, I hate you for seven years because if I didn't do that,

how much time do we waste building a case against someone else that's not even thinking about us? My life is too short. My calling is too great. With God's help, I'm going to make an allowance for other people's fault. I am overcoming being easily offended. I've got too much to do for God to let something small slow me down. With God's help, I'm overcoming being easily offended.

The second thing if you're taking notes is this. With God's help, I'm getting over the big offenses. And I want to spend a little time being gentle here because I know that at all of our churches, there are those of you that may have very significant wounds in your life right now. And I know that for a lot of you, especially going into Christmas time, this stirs up the betrayals, maybe the hurt, maybe the abuse, maybe the lies that you've experienced or endured in your life.

And I know this is very, very real. When we've been hurt, we have a choice. And we can really essentially do one of a couple extremes. We can rehearse what happened. And that's what we often do. Well, she said, and then he did, nah, da, da, da, da. and we let it go over and over and over, and it feeds the bitterness and it feeds the anger,

and it drives the dislike deeper into our heart. We can rehearse it, or with God's help, we can start to release it. We can rehearse it, or with God's help, we can start to release it. I'm passing over. I'm overcoming. It's to our glory, to overlook an offense. and the process of forgiveness for some that may take time. But as we continue to seek God, as we continue to press into him, as we continue to pray,

we continue to seek to do the right thing, his spirit can actually start to change our hearts. In fact, Colossians 313 tells us this. We're told to make allowances for each other's fault. And forgive anyone who offends you. Some of you, you're thinking to somebody right now. What do we do? Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. The Lord forgave me, so I'm called to forgive others.

How? How do you forgive something that seems unforgivable? How do you forgive something that is so wrong, so brutal, so horrific? Not only how do we forgive someone that hurt us, but you know what's sometimes even more difficult to forgive someone that hurts someone that we love. Oh, you mess with my kid. That's another story, right? You mess with my wife and, okay. How do we forgive? How do we forgive? We forgive as we've been forgiven. How do we do it? We forgive as we've been forgiven. I don't know about you, and I can't speak for anybody here.

But I've been forgiven of a lot. If you look at the accumulation of my years and all the times that I've let people down, that I've been less than honest, that I've hurt people throughout the years, that I've blatantly sinned against God, I've been forgiven of a lot. How do I forgive?

Something that seems unforgivable. I forgive in the same way that I've been forgiven. Freely I've been forgiven and freely I forgive others. It can be a process. God help me forgive. God change my heart. God, give me grace as you've given me grace. God, I pray for this person even though I don't want to.

In fact, I just want to touch on something for a minute because I know there may be some of you right now that in your marriage you've been significantly betrayed. And I've said this before, I want to say it again. Maybe you had a spouse committed adultery. And you can sit around in a Christian circle and say all day long, well, adultery is grounds for divorce. And if you're reading scripture, that's absolutely a true statement.

Adultery is grounds for divorce. Here's some other news. Adultery is also grounds for forgiveness. It's also grounds for forgiveness. And I know that it's complicated and I've never had to walk through something like that in my own life and pray that I don't know that I'd be. never, ever do. But I'll tell you right now, I've been forgiven of a lot. And I want to freely forgive in the way that I've been forgiven. And I don't know if this will speak to somebody,

but if it does today, just let God crack open your heart a little bit. How do we forgive something that seems unforgivable in the same way that Christ has forgiven us? The quote again from Descartes, whenever anyone has offended me, I try to raise my soul so high that the offense cannot reach it. The very thing that was holding me back for so long, it will hold me no more. Because I'm growing closer to God, the lower offenses of this world do not hold me back. Because life is short. I'm not going to let something insignificant take me off track. Because my calling is great.

I'm not rehearsing this. I'm releasing it. I'm not rehearsing it. I'm releasing it. I'm getting over it. I'm getting over it. I'm getting over it. And over time, we're no longer saying I'm getting over it.

But because of God, I am over it. I am over it. I am different. It doesn't hold me back. Because of God, I am over it. And this is what Joseph in the Old Testament did. an amazing story of rising above betrayal when he had a vision to do great things and his brothers were very jealous of him and critical. And they said, no, no, no. And they took their little brother

and threw him into a pit, kind of like a cruel joke or let's leave him there. And then someone said, no, let's not leave him there. Let's sell him when a band came by and they sold him into slavery. Their own brother, his brother, sell him in this way. And then he's falsely accused while he's serving Potiphar and then he's put into prison and serves in prison and continues to live with integrity. He has an amazing gift to interpret dreams and bring it about the spiritual influence. And because of that gift over time, he's actually elevated and God puts him second in charge after years of abuse under Pharaoh in Egypt. And suddenly God uses him to interpret a dream that the Pharaoh has about a time of plenty and a time of want. And he says, hey, you need to put some food aside

because there's a drought coming. There's going to be starvation if you don't. And he uses his gift to prepare them for a time that could have been tragic for the nation. Well, years and years and years go by. And guess what happens? Joseph's brothers who think he's dead and gone need some food. And so what do they do? They come into the Pharaoh's place and say, can we get by some bread? And we need something to eat. And Joseph recognizes his brothers who betrayed him, was going to leave him for dead, and sold him into slavery.

If, if Joseph had done what many of us are doing right now, rehearse it, rehearse it one day, and then I'll say to them, and when they come, I'm going to put them all to death for what they did. If he had done that, it had been a much different story. but he chose by the grace of God not to rehearse it, but to release it. And he broke down with significant emotion. I cannot believe this.

You're here. I am your brother. And they're like, you're going to kill us. You're going to kill us all this stuff. He said, no, no, no, you don't understand. God used this. God used this. And then he said, what you meant for evil,

God used for good. What you meant for evil, my God turned it, my God turned it, my God used it, my God used it for good. I'm over this. I'm over this. That's beneath me. I'm not letting that slow me down. I'm doing what God called me to do.

I am so over the past. There are those of you that I believe in the presence of God, he's going to do a healing work. And you're no longer going to be under the curse of something that happened in the past, but you're saying, with God's help, I'm getting over it. With God's help, I'm getting over it. Then one day, with everything in you, because of God's goodness, I am over it. Because of His grace, I've let it go. What used to hold me back because of God's goodness, it actually made me stronger.

What used to hurt me in the past is conform me to the image of Christ. I'm even more like him today. What weighed me down for years no longer holds me down. Why? Because I'm over it, because I'm over it, as Jesus has. forgiven me, so I forgive others. It's to your glory, to overlook, to rise above, to not be held hostage by some offense. Why? Life is too short. Life is too short to live offended. Your calling is too great. Do you recognize that? God created you, shaped you, formed you,

gave you gifts and put you at this moment in history. Why? Because it's at this time that you can best glorify him and do his will. What used to hold me hostage doesn't hold me anymore. Why? Because God is causing me to rise above it. God is lifting me above it. My soul is so close to the things of God that I wouldn't let anything drag me down. If, if, if, You've lived like me for too long, easily offended. Who do they think that? Oh, come on, man. Your calling's much better than that.

Life's way too short to let something small draw you off course. If it's a big offense, and let's be honest, those are real, and those are tough. How do we forgive? We forgive in the same way that we've been forgiven. And when we forgive, it doesn't change what happened in the past, but it does change what God can do in the future. It's to your glory to overlook an offense. Because our lives are too short.

Our callings are too great to live offended. All of our churches, let's take a moment and let's pray together. Father, we ask that in your presence you do a work in all of our hearts. God, I know that it's so easy for so many of us, to be easily offended by things that are insignificant, things that don't really matter that much. God, by your grace, give us the ability to overlook, to pass over, to rise above

those things that would slow us down. And God, for those who are significantly hurt today, we ask that you would give us the power to forgive as we've been forgiven. All of our churches today, as you're reflecting in prayer, I want to take a moment and just talk to those of you, you in different places. Those who would say, yeah, Craig, I've been a little bit like you. I can be really easily offended. Would you lift up your hands right now? I want help

overcoming the easy offenses. All of our churches just lift up your hands. Those today who would say, I'm carrying a significant wound, one of the bigger offenses, and I really need God's help to let that one go. Would you lift up your hands right now? I want to pray for you. So many hands at all of our churches. Father, today, I ask that in your presence, you would do a work in our hearts. God, for some of us, I believe even now that we're not just going to say, I'm getting over it, but God, I am over it. God, by the power of your risen sun, help us, God, to rise above the small offenses. For the deeper ones, God, I know it took months and maybe even years for me to overcome one. I pray, God, that the process of healing would start now, that you would speed the process.

God, that you would help us to choose to bless those who curse us. to pray for those who harm us. God, I pray that you would help us to love like Jesus loves and live like Jesus lives. God, as we've been forgiven so much, give us the supernatural ability to forgive others as we've been forgiven. And God, we thank you that when we forgive,

the prisoner is set free, and we often realize the prisoner is actually us. God set us free. Give us the power, give us the grace to forgive as we have been forgiven. And all of our churches, as you keep praying, nobody looking around. There may be many of you right now that when you think of your life with God, you recognize there's a burden on your end.

I can remember growing up and thinking to myself, I wonder if God would accept me after all that I've done. I tried to stop doing bad stuff and tried to start doing good stuff. And the problem is no matter how hard I tried, I continued to fail and fall way short. And I didn't recognize that I couldn't be made right with God by my own work. The scripture teaches the only way I'm actually made right with God is by the grace of Jesus. And this is what's so amazing and such good news, is that God did something for us that we couldn't do for ourselves.

He became one of us in the person of his son, Jesus, who lived perfect in every single way. Without ever sinning, Jesus lived the perfect life, and he became the perfect sacrifice, dying on the cross for our offenses. He died in our place for the forgiveness of our sins on the third day. When the stone was rolled away, Jesus was not there. The tomb was empty. He has risen from the dead. Why? So that anyone, and this includes you, who calls on the name of Jesus, would be saved and forgiven.

The amazing grace of God, no matter how bad you've been, no matter how dark your life is, no matter how many people you've let down, when you call on Jesus, he hears your prayers. He forgives every sin, and he makes you brand-man. new at all of our churches. There are those of you you recognize you need his grace. You need his forgiveness. You are not here by accident on the other side of computer screens. You recognize, I need the forgiveness of God when you call on Jesus. He will hear your prayer and forgive your sins. And all of our churches, those who say, yes, I need his grace. Yes, today I surrender my life and trust my life to him. That's your prayer. Lift your hands high right now. All of our

churches and say, yes, Jesus, I surrender to you. Those of you, church online you click right below me at all of our churches as we have people calling out on the name of jesus would you join your voices with those around you and pray aloud pray heavenly father i surrender my life completely to you jesus forgive me of all of my sins make me brand new fill me with your spirit so i could follow you every day of my life my life is not my own Today I give it to you. In Jesus' name I pray. All of our churches, would you help me welcome new people born into God's family today?

It's our honor as a church to play a small part in all that God is doing in and through your life, and we would love to continue with you on that journey. To find out what your next steps could be in your relationship with Christ, all you have to do is go to life.church slash next. You know, one of the phrases we love to hang our hat on here at Life Church is that we're not just spiritual consumers, but rather we're spiritual contributors, meaning we don't just go to church, we are the church, and we exist for the world. And Georgia is a high school student from Tulsa, Oklahoma, who not only understands this phrase, but lives it out. Here's our story. I'm extroverted. I tell myself I am.

Okay. Scratch cut, loop. Okay. Hey, guys, my name is Georgia, and I'm a spiritual contributor. I think honestly one of the biggest steps in my faith was realizing there's a difference between relationship and religion. Relationship is truly understanding what Jesus did for us and honestly that is a secret to happiness. I can't help but give everything I have to him. My mission field is in my backyard.

It's wherever I go I have the opportunity to show the light. When you finally realize the secret to happiness you can't help but like go out and tell the whole world. Hey guys I'm here at my school. This is the biggest mission field that I have. A ton of people and a lot of different groups of people were trying to read. I'm at Switch. We have 20 seconds left. I'm so excited.

I think some of the ways that I love out my faith is serving on the weekends, serving in Life Kids in the Loop, host team and Switch, and even in our local community outside of church. Hey guys, we're getting ready for Life Group. This is Spencer and Jeffrey and Savannah. Hi! The people in my life group have become my best friend. We meet at a coffee shop and we just talk about life, talk about the message, just we're

really there for each other through the good and the back. you finally realize what Jesus has done for us, it's just a logical response. You can't do anything else but show his love and show up. Thanks to God's work through Life Church, I've learned my purpose and it's to bring people together and help them love each other as God has first loved us. Guys, that's it for me today, so I'm out. Thanks again for joining us here at Life Church, where we have a mission of leading people to become fully devoted followers of Christ. That statement, that mission, that drive, that passion is the motivation behind everything we do. Because we believe Whoever finds God, finds life.